Counterpoint: Election concerns about schools should focus on the school board

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For readers of the Star Tribune struggling to decide whether Don Samuels ("Don Samuels has credibility on public schools," Opinion Exchange, July 27) is or is not a superior public education advocate compared to Ilhan Omar ("Ilhan Omar is the choice for supporters of the public schools," July 21) as they vie for the Fifth Congressional District seat in the Aug. 9 DFL primary, you may stop fretting: Neither candidate will cast any votes that will make any difference in academic progress for students of the Minneapolis Public Schools. In a nation with a mania for local control, any change in academics will come at the level of the locally centralized school district. Thus, the Aug. 9 election of true importance with regard to public education is that for the five vacated seats on the Minneapolis school board.

The school board races in the First and Third districts offer hope for change, because the current occupants of those seats are not running for re-election; however, Abdul Abdi and Fathia Feerayarre are respectively the lone candidates for those seats. But voters in the primary will have the opportunity to select candidates to compete in the general November election for two at-large Minneapolis school board seats and the Fifth District seat.

This election comes at a critical juncture for the Minneapolis Public Schools. The district is now operating on the basis of a Comprehensive District Design (CDD) that has admirably relocated magnet programs at the district's geographic center and rationally pared bus routes so as induce attendance at neighborhood schools while saving $7 million in transportation costs. But enrollment in MPS has dropped by approximately 4,000 students, from 32,000 to 28,000, from autumn 2020 to the present. Only 47% of all students are proficient in reading and 42% proficient in mathematics, with fewer than 25% of students in several demographic groups proficient in those skills (figures are for the pre-COVID academic year ending in 2019).

But opportunity now beckons. The current board's selection of Rochelle Cox as interim superintendent is a highly favorable decision. Cox has for a quarter of a century occupied professional positions at MPS in early childhood education, special education, and the cabinet-level position of associate superintendent. She is a person of enormous love for children with an unusual grasp of the changes needed to reinvent MPS via the provisions of an academic program worthy of emulation across the nation. In just a few weeks, she has already acted with purpose and courage to make staffing and departmental changes conducive to the needed overhaul.

And Cox will have the opportunity to work with five new school board members. Candidates for the two contested seats in the at-large race are KerryJo Felder, Collin Beachy, Sonya Emerick, Jaton White, Harley Meyer and Lisa Skjefte. DFL endorsements of Felder and Beachy should sway voters away from their candidacies: The DFL has a close relationship with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, which, as good unions do, advocates effectively for members' wages and working conditions but inevitably opposes needed systemic changes in public education.

Of the four candidates not endorsed by the DFL, White applied unsuccessfully for the interim position upon Josh Pauly's resignation in February but has not been forthcoming with information upon which voters can make a judgment on his candidacy. Meyer vows success as a teacher of reading and mathematics in Thailand and Mexico, but his application for the interim position lacked specificity and coherence.

Emerick and Skjefte offer the best options in the at-large contests. Emerick is an MPS parent of a child with special needs and a passionate advocate for academically substantive education for young people of all demographic groups. Skjefte, vice president of community engagement for the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, has had multiple community involvements and manifests skill in uniting people of varying perspectives for mutually beneficial outcomes.

Candidates for the Fifth District seat are Lori Norvell, Leslie Haugland-Smith, Laurelle Myhra and Elena Condos. As the DFL-endorsed candidate, Norvell is not well-positioned to advocate for systemic overhaul. Haugland-Smith has adopted a low profile and offered little information in support of her candidacy. Myhra, a member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, has training and personal experiences supportive of her advocacy for racial equity.

But the strongest candidate for the Fifth District position is Condos. She holds an undergraduate degree in political science and an MBA; she has accumulated impressive experiences in the corporate and nonprofit spheres, has volunteered for multiple community organizations (including MPS), and is a board member of the education nonprofit African Connections with demonstrated commitment to educational equity.

Votes for Emerick and Skjefte in the at-large contest and for Condos in the Fifth District would offer the most support for the interim superintendent in her energetic effort to bring needed change in behalf of the long-waiting students of the district.

Gary Marvin Davison is director of the New Salem Educational Initiative in north Minneapolis. He blogs at newsalemeducation.blogspot.com.